I awoke to a pulsing warmth at my throat. The sensation didn’t disturb me; in fact, it calmed me and turned my bones into Jell-O. A body hovered above me, and warm breath fell on my bare neck as a finger caressed something hard and unyielding that lay against my skin. I felt rested, despite the crazy dream I’d had, as if I’d been sleeping for hours. I snuggled deeper against my pillow, my eyelids still too heavy with sleep for me to open. I recalled the details of my dream as I floated in the hazy realm between sleep and wakefulness. I’d become a thief, a kidnapper, and I’d left Tyler. I groaned as I struggled to fight the lethargy that clung to my mind. Surely my dream was more nightmare than anything. No way in hell would I ever leave Ty.
“Tyler.”
The warmth at my throat diminished as fingers lifted the heavy weight from my skin. I felt the rasp of a chain as it slid against my neck, but my brain was still too fuzzy to command my eyes to open. It had to be Tyler sitting next to me. I wanted to open my eyes, to look at him, but holy hell, I was so, so tired.
“I dreamt I’d left you without even saying good-bye. It was horrible.” My voice was thick with sleep. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. I tried to lick my lips, but the effort exhausted me.
The warm weight returned to rest against my throat, and what I’d once perceived as a pleasant touch became forceful as a hand wound around my neck, forcing my face upward. “It’s time you forgot about the Jinn,” Fallon snarled. I came fully awake as if plunged into a freezing lake, and I stared into his angry gray eyes. “Do you understand me?”
My blood turned to ice as my mind regained coherency. This nightmare wasn’t something I could merely wake up from. It had become my reality, and my heart pounded against my rib cage like it wanted out as yesterday’s details flashed fresh in my mind. I pulled away and sat up, facing the bastard who’d managed to make me his prisoner. He leaned on an elbow and lifted the emerald pendulum, the thing he’d caressed so lovingly, the chain now fastened around my neck.
“I found it in your pocket. There’s no need to keep it hidden. Not now. You should wear it. It’s your right.”
I took a cleansing breath, wanting like hell to wish for Tyler’s help. I needed him so badly, and not just for protection. Only Tyler could fill the black hole that Fallon had managed to tear open in my soul. But something prevented me from speaking the words. The wish sat at the tip of my tongue but refused to go any farther. I sat bolt upright and looked down at the deep green gem, glowing softly against my skin. “Do you know what this is?”
Liquid silver flashed in his eyes. “Iskosia,” he said. “The Key. And you’re the only living thing this side of O Anel to possess one.”
“What is O Anel?”
Fallon laughed, launching himself from the bed with a jaunty bounce. “I’m starving! Aren’t you? There’s no room service in this dump, and even if there were, I wouldn’t eat anything prepared by a human. Stay here. I’ll bring you back a delicious breakfast, and you’ll see what you’ve been missing.”
Good God, but he was a daffy fucker. He needed a Prozac the size of a golf ball to deal with his personality issues. But if he wanted a contamination-free breakfast, then the better for me that he go in search of one. “I doubt you’ll find a meal within a hundred-mile radius not prepared by human hands.”
Fallon tapped his temple with his forefinger and headed toward the door, the same businessman guise sliding over his skin. He crossed the room to the bedside table, grabbed the phone, and jerked the cord from the wall, tucking it under his arm. “We have a long day ahead of us. I’ll be back soon.”
I sat on the bed with a silly grin plastered on my face. When I heard the door latch, I ran to the window, peeking through the curtain, and watched as the VW pulled out of the parking lot. I crossed the room with only one thought: Get the fuck out of here. I turned the knob and pulled the door, only to find it refused to open. Using the wall for leverage, I propped a foot against it, pulling with every ounce of my preternatural strength. The door would not budge.
“Did you really think he’d leave you here without taking precautions?” Delilah said from where she sat on the other bed. “He’s waited for you a long time. He’s not going to let you go.”
She looked much too comfortable for my taste, lounging against the headboard as if she hadn’t a care in the world. “Delilah,” I said, coming to stand at the foot of her bed. “Shut the fuck up! I wouldn’t be in this mess if you hadn’t decided to get all chatty about Raif’s daughter. I should have let him kill you when he wanted to.”
“Yes, you should have. Never forgive your enemies, Darian. It will always come back to bite you in the ass.”
“Point taken. Now shut up. I’ve got to find a way out of here.” A locked door wasn’t going to stop me. I didn’t care if I brought the whole building down around our heads; I was getting out of this room. I grabbed a bulky chair and threw it at the window. It bounced off the glass as if the chair were made of cotton balls and landed at my feet. “Fallon’s spelled the entire room, hasn’t he?” I whispered. “I’m not getting out of here.”
“Is that what he’s calling himself?” Delilah mused. “He’s fortified the windows, walls, and door with a containment charm. Fallon has made the room impossible to escape from. I told you, Darian-he won’t let you go. Not now.”
Is that what he’s calling himself? What the hell was that supposed to mean? Could Ty have been right all along? Fallon had been keeping his true identity a secret. Despair welled in my chest, threatening to choke the air right out of me. I hoped it would. I hoped it suffocated me with its weight and put an end to my miserable existence. I’d taken offense at being called stupid time and again, but lo and behold! I was as dumb as a person could get. I’d orchestrated my own undoing with almost no effort at all. Fuck the world, how could I have been such an idiot?
I sat at the foot of Delilah’s bed, rested my elbows on my knees, and cradled my head in my hands. I couldn’t let Fallon-or whoever the hell he was-get the upper hand. He’d done something to me, messed with my head without my realizing it. If it happened again, I was as good as dead.
“Delilah,” I said, turning toward her, “how long was I unconscious?”
“Fifteen or twenty minutes.” She shrugged. “We’ve been here only an hour.”
I massaged my throbbing forehead with my fingertips. Confusion swirled as an anxiety-fused knot formed in my stomach. My limbs were sluggish and heavy, and my head teetered on my shoulders as though I’d slept for days. I had no sense of time. Fifteen minutes? Felt like a fucking week. “You and I are going to have a little talk.”
I stalked to the side of the bed, hauled her scrawny ass up, and threw her into a chair. Hell if I know how I kept from beating her to death, because it was all I could do to prevent myself from using her as a punching bag. She deserved it. Oh, she may have looked tiny and defenseless, but she’d eat me whole and spit me out the first chance she got. “Now, I may not have a knife to cut you with, but don’t doubt for a second that I know ways to inflict serious pain without a blade. And just because you think I’m one of the good guys doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy every second of your torture either.” Big talk? Damn straight. I needed it. “Now, before Fallon gets back with my human-free breakfast, I want to know what the hell is going on. And if I feel like you’re not being forthcoming with me…” I grabbed a glass from the counter, smashed it, and took a large shard in my hand. “Well, I’m going to start by using this glass to carve out little bits and pieces of you. You got that?”
Delilah nodded in agreement. But her coy smile caused a chill to shake me from head to toe. God, she was one creepy chick. I wondered how Ty could have ever befriended her…Focus, Darian! I shook the cobwebs left over from Fallon’s influence over my mind and bent low so I could look Delilah in the eyes. Who cared if she couldn’t look back? “Where is Brakae?” I asked, my voice steady.
“Brakae is in The Ring,” Delilah said as if I should have known. “She’s been there since the day she was chosen.”
“What do you mean, ‘chosen’?”
“Chosen to serve. Just like you were. Though I have to say, Darian, you got the better end of the deal.”
I strangled the air in front of Delilah’s neck. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought she was stalling. But Delilah just liked to talk in circles. In my opinion, it was her greatest gift. “What is The Ring?” I asked. “And why is Fallon so interested in this broken hourglass? It’s connected to Brakae, right? That’s the whole point of this little field trip.”
“Boy, you don’t miss a thing, do you?” She tilted her head to the side, thoughtful. “He was banished from O Anel a few hundred years ago. And ever since, he’s been looking for a way back.”
Fabulous. “Where is O Anel? What is it?” She laughed and I pressed the shard of glass to her delicate skin. “I’m not kidding, Delilah. I’ll kill you if you don’t cooperate.”
Sighing, she settled deeper into her chair. “O Anel is The Ring, Darian. It’s the Faerie Realm.”
I fingered the emerald at my neck. “And Iskosia. What is that?”
“The Key,” Delilah said. “Belonging to only one person. The Guardian. It opens O Anel.”
“And I’m this Guardian, right?”
“Amazing, isn’t it?” Delilah said, picking at her fingernails. “Do you think they get channel twelve here? I wonder if Judge Judy is on.”
Jesus Christ. “Stay with me here, Delilah, and you can watch-or listen to-all the trashy TV you want. But not until you answer my questions. So, let’s talk about this Guardian bullshit.”
“It’s not bullshit, Darian. You were chosen. Before your Shaede existence, Fate had your path set out for you. And if you don’t like it, well, I guess that’s just too damned bad.”
A scream built in my stomach and rumbled up my throat, but I swallowed it down, determined not to let her shake me. I, not Delilah, was in charge of this interrogation. Running out of time, I needed more information before Fallon returned. “Okay, so let’s say I am this Guardian. What do I protect?”
“Not just what, but whom,” Delilah said shrewdly. “You know, Darian. I don’t have to tell you this one. I sensed it on you. You’ve been there already. You’ve seen the Time Keeper with your own eyes.”
“That woman. The priestess. She’s the Time Keeper?”
Delilah graced me with her Mona Lisa smile.
“Wait,” I said, wading through the details in my mind. “That can’t be right. There’re more than one of them. I saw three different girls. Are they all Time Keepers? Or just one of them?”
Laughter answered me. “Time is a strange thing in O Anel.”
It couldn’t be. Could it? As I slowly pieced the information together, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t realized it sooner. Those sapphire eyes, the curling raven hair. And their smiles. All the same, and so familiar. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen that expression either. “They’re all the same girl,” I said more to myself that Delilah. “And”-holy fucking shit-“the Time Keeper is Brakae.”
“You’re finally catching on,” Delilah said. “Took you long enough.”
“What about Fallon?” I said. “How does he fit into all of this?”
Delilah laughed in astonishment. “Darian, how could you not know by now? We’ve covered this. Fallon is the Man from The Ring.”
I slumped back, saved from a fall by my ass bouncing on the foot of the bed. Of course Fallon was the Man from The Ring. Who the hell else would he be?
“I’m sorry, Darian, but I did warn you.” Delilah stood and laid a comforting hand on my shoulder, which I promptly brushed away. “You should have killed him like you did the others. But you let him get away. Too concerned about Tyler’s injuries, I suppose. Who could blame you? You love him.”
“What’s going on here?” Fallon walked through the door, slamming it behind him. “Delilah, my dear, you’ve been running off at the mouth again, haven’t you? I thought I could trust you without sealing your mouth shut. I guess I was wrong.”
Delilah seemed to melt under Fallon’s heated stare, shrinking back down into her chair. “I didn’t tell her anything she didn’t already know or wouldn’t have figured out with a little thought.”
I’d run out of time and could already feel the draw of his presence, my will dissolving. I’d be nothing but a dancing puppet as he pulled the strings in a matter of moments. With determined focus, I cataloged everything Delilah told me, praying I wouldn’t forget.
“What do you think, Darian?” He beckoned me with a finger and I obeyed, walking toward him as if I had no other choice. “Does Delilah have a big mouth?”
“Oh yeah.” I blurted the words as if he’d fed them to me on a teleprompter. “She likes the sound of her own voice.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Fallon pulled a long knife from a sheath at his waist. Not made of anything metal, the black sheen of the blade ran with veins of emerald. “You’ve played your part, Oracle. Now it is time to go to your sister.”
Delilah clamped her jaw tight and bucked her chin up in the air. The girl had moxie. It was the one thing I admired about her. Her expression softened into that of resignation…no, reverence, as if she sat in the presence of greatness. I’d seen that expression before, when the Enphigmalé had sprung to life before Delilah’s unseeing eyes. She’d stood in awe of them. Fallon ran his hand over her hair-a loving gesture, really. Just as he’d done to me earlier, he soothed her, shushed her lightly, and kissed the top of her head before running his knife through her heart. He twisted the blade with a jerk and pulled it out, cleaning off the blood on Delilah’s own shirt while she died.
And I did nothing to stop it.
Fallon returned the knife to its sheath and put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t mourn her,” he said. “She’s with her sister. I found us something suitable to eat,” he said, letting me go to retrieve the bag he’d left at the door. “Sit and let me feed you.”
And, damn it, I did. I rested my arms at my sides as Fallon pushed my chair in. He placed a clear-plastic container of food in front of me: breads, fruits, and cheeses all garnished with flowers.
“I found a Sylph downtown who owns a bakery. You wouldn’t think it would be so hard to find our kind in this city, but I have to admit, it took some looking.” Fallon set a fork beside me and plucked a grape from a small bunch. “Taste this.” He brought the fruit to my mouth, which I opened obligingly. He placed the grape in my mouth, his finger brushing my lip. “Tell me that’s not the sweetest grape you’ve ever eaten.”
The fruit burst in my mouth. It was sweeter than anything I’d ever tasted, with a strange floral aftertaste that tingled on my tongue-delicious. “Eat,” he said, pushing the fork toward me. “It’s all wonderful without a trace of human taint.”
I picked up the fork and ate my breakfast as if I didn’t have a mind of my own. Eat, drink, sleep…What else would Fallon command me to do? I shuddered at the thought. While I stuffed my face with “taint-free” food, Fallon retrieved my backpack from the closet. He sat down beside me, unzipping the bag as if it would explode if he didn’t take care. Peering down, he found his prize, and a hungry smile graced his lips. He drew the broken hourglass from my bag and carefully unwrapped the towels I’d used to cushion it.
“The prize,” he said, setting the glass on the table between us. “We’re so close.”
“Close to what?” I asked.
“Freedom,” he said.
“What does that hourglass do?” The food must have been charmed. I couldn’t stop eating it. Everything tasted so delicious, even the flowers used for garnish. And the more I ate, the more confused I became, having to remind myself that I was sitting at the table of a madman with a corpse for company.
“Broken, the hourglass is useless. It maintains the flow of time in the realm to which it belongs. But we’re going to join this half with its mate. And when we do, wondrous things will happen.”
Fallon spoke with a passion only fanatics possess. He watched, mesmerized by the golden grains of sand falling upward and passing into nothing before returning to fill the bottom of the glass. I nibbled on a piece of cheese, my eyes wandering to poor Delilah, who had let her grief and need for revenge steer her toward the dark path that led to her death. If she could have seen her own future, I wondered if she would have done things the same way. I reached toward her with my left hand and touched her shoulder, my gaze drawn to my thumb. The skin below my knuckle was smooth, as if something had worn it that way. Had I been wearing jewelry earlier? It seemed a ring was missing from my thumb. And I had a feeling it should not be missing, and that somehow, without it, I was incomplete.
“Fallon,” I said, “where are you taking me?” Others would miss me-I thought. I had friends, loved ones, didn’t I? I knew just a moment ago. Remember. I closed my eyes and forced myself to focus despite the fog shrouding my mind. Delilah had told me about someone. Someone I’d been searching for. My friend’s daughter. Raif’s daughter-Brakae-the Time Keeper. She lived…Where did she live? In the Faerie Realm. And I was her Guardian. Don’t forget, Darian. Don’t you dare forget again. You’ve got to find her and kill Fallon before he kills you so you can get home to Tyler. He thinks you’ve left him. “Where the hell’s my ring?” I stroked my thumb with a forefinger. “And where are you taking me?” I asked again with more force behind the words. I pushed the plate away; I wanted more, craved it, but I couldn’t allow myself to eat another bite.
“It’s not where I’m taking you,” Fallon said, still enrapt by the hourglass. “It’s where you’re taking me.”
“I don’t have anywhere to go,” I said. Or did I? Yes, I had to find Brakae. For Raif. I couldn’t forget again.
“You’re taking me home, to O Anel. I have business with the Time Keeper.”